1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for inputting a text, particularly a voice typewriter for converting voice directly to characters and a word processor for converting kana (Japanese phonograms) or romaji (Japanese phonograms expressed in alphabetic text) to kanji (Japanese ideograms) and kana.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An efficient method for inputting a text to a computer or a word processor is possibly to input voice. It is certainly most efficient if inputted voice is converted to characters.
However, no practical voice typewriter has been on the market due to difficulties in voice recognition. In a voice input word processor, for example, indicated in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-182735, voice is inputted in units of character string in place of keyboard entry, candidate words are displayed on the screen, and the final selection is performed by the operator. This method intends to greatly decrease the time for keyboard entry and to speed up text input. However, it is a role of the operator to eliminate the ambiguity of voice recognition and the step of final selection takes time.
The keyboard entry method is already made practicable. There are some methods for inputting a Japanese text containing a very large amount of kanji, such as a method for inputting kana from the keyboard, a method for inputting romaji from the keyboard, and a two-stroke method, which is a special one, for inputting a code containing two kana characters and a numeral whereto kanji is assigned. Although the two-stroke method allows for high speed input, it imposes problems such that it takes a lot of time to store a code corresponding to kanji and it takes a lot of time to look up and input a code for each character. Since the kana or romaji input method requires writing texts with a space between words and it is a role of the operator to select a correct word from a homophone, it is not an efficient method.
In a conventional voice typewriter, therefore, it is required to eliminate the ambiguity of voice recognition by the operator, resulting in a lot of time. In the kana or romaji input method from the keyboard, it is a role of the operator to select a correct word from a homophone, and it is not an efficient method.